Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Insert Red Skies Twilight Here (part 1 of 6)

Note: Here it comes, the beginning of the end! ...of Season One. =P

Hold on to your hats, dear readers.

"All the whispers, the warnings so clear.
I see the angels. I'll lead them to your door.
There's no escape now. No mercy, no more.
No remorse, 'cause I still remember...The smile when you tore me apart."-"Angels" By Within Temptation

Somewhere in the world of 'Twilight', Bella and Edward were falling deeply in love and trying to reconcile the differences between human and vampire, while Jacob was attempting to cope with the fact that he had lost the woman of his dreams and come in second place in the game of love and somewhere else, both vampire and werewolf forces were planning their next moves, all centered on the fact that a vampire had fallen in love with a human girl….

But this story is not about those people and events, for they are some else's story to tell.

This story is about another young woman, one whose destiny was just as grand as Bella's, but whether it would be dark or light had yet to be determined.

This young woman knew very little about Bella and Edward and all the things that those two entailed and if she did know everything about them, she would hardly care at all. Because in the grand scheme of things, this little fandom out in the corner of somewhere would be nothing be a minor conquest, a footnote on her way to greatness.

You see, this young woman was a Mary-Sue by the name of Willowe Foxblade. There used to be more to her name, but it was gone now. Not that she minded, as Willowe had never understood why Sues and Stus had a fascination with such long, fanciful names that were also so hard to pronounce. So she relished the fact she had a much simpler name now, one that rolled off the tongue fairly easily. When one intended to become an empress and have slaves to speak your name, it was best to have a name that everyone could say.

Willowe was, however, far from becoming any sort of empress at the moment. Though she still possessed her fine looks and gorgeous hair, they were…plain. No longer was she able to exude the natural aura of perfection of a Sue that magnified their beauty and made them irresistible, thanks to the four Prohibitors clamped around her wrists and ankles. No longer was she able to call upon the powers of the fandom and Plot Holes to twist reality to her whims. Instead, she was forced to languish in this horrible, overly-cliché fandom full tragic romances and a strange variation of vampires.

She'd been in the world of 'Twilight' for several weeks, unable to escape nor find a way to remove the Prohibitors, either. So Willowe was forced to wait.

But today… her waiting was about to end.

Willowe settled back on the park bench and reached into the bag by her side, pulling out another handful of breadcrumbs and scattering them in front of her for the pigeons to eat. She smiled softly as the gray birds fluttered about, cooing as they pecked at the ground for their meal.

"I did not think you would be one for bird-feeding, Willowe."

The Mary-Sue didn't bother to turn to face the speaker who had suddenly materialized behind her, leaning back against the bench and facing away. "I'm a Sue, not evil. I appreciate many things that are already in existence for what they are. I do not wish to have every little thing under my command, like so many other Mary-Sues and Gary-Stus."

"That is why you remained free for so long…" The speaker folded their arms across their chest and continued. "But then, unlike the other Sues and Stus, who are by-products of canon storylines have unfulfilled gaps or loose ends, you had a completely original story… though it took place in a canon world, you had the center stage all to yourself, didn't you? Until dear mummy decided to stop writing…."

The bag crinkled and crumpled as Willowe's fist tightened around it. "I know how it happened, Runoa. I was there. She put me away and forgot about me, leaving me stuck in the same damn pattern over and over again… there was no ending… just an endless circle…"

Runoa glanced back over her shoulder to look at her compatriot. "So all of this…the plotting, the scheming, the conquering… all of it is for revenge on that one woman?"

"No…" Willowe scattered another handful of grain as she spoke. "In fact, I thank her for it…she taught me several important lessons… that there is no such thing as 'fate'… that if you want to change something, you must do it with your own two hands… that in the end, the only person you can count on is yourself…" Her hand clenched into a tight fist.

"Hmmmph…" Runoa closed her eyes briefly. "Well, it's no business of mine what you want to do with your life, Willowe. I have no interest in conquering fandoms or twisting canon…"

"I know…" Now it was Willowe's turn to glance out of the corner of her eye at Runoa. "All that matters to you is your precious research on Immaculation…" A small smirk crossed her face. "That… and making up for all those you couldn't save…"

Runoa's eyes opened and she glared at the auburn-haired Sue. "Don't push your luck, Willowe…I may be indebted to you for saving me from the void between dimensions, but that is all. Don't think I harbor anything like sentiment or affection for you or any other Sue. Push me too far and I may just decide to leave you here…" Her eyes narrowed dangerously, lethally. "Or I could save the Society the trouble and destroy you…"

Willowe's confidence didn't falter in the slightest and the smirk broadened a little. "My apologies, Runoa…" She stood up, brushing breadcrumbs from the front of her dress. "I take the rest of our plan has gone smoothly, then…"

"Yes…" Runoa turned to face her and reached for something inside her robe. "Cassie Anora was captured by Adrian and Tash before she could complete the transfer ceremony and I did not receive all of her powers. And thanks to her author, Cassie's powers have sealed beyond our reach… it was as we expected."

"I never liked Cassie… she was too arrogant for her own good." Willowe raised an eyebrow as Runoa pulled a blue-and-gold sheathed sword from out underneath her robe, handing it to her. "You brought Excalibur with you?"

"You will need it if you are going to fight the Society. Though I gained a portion of Cassie's powers, enabling me to remove the Prohibitors, I cannot restore your powers to you…" Runoa raised her own eyebrow. "Unless you wish to attempt the Immaculation process?"

"No...unlike the others, I earned my fighting skills the hard way. Coupled with Excalibur's powers, they will suffice." Willowe grabbed the weapon and slid it into the belt around her waist. "I assume you can get me into the Library one last time?"

"Of course I can…" Runoa said calmly and handed Willowe a small syringe. "This is an acid I've been developing. It should be strong enough to remove the Prohibitors on the Sues and Stus captive in the Library Basement… a few drops for each one. But this is all I have and as it requires essence of dead Sue to make, I doubt I will be able to mix anymore, so do not waste it."

Willowe nodded, slipping the syringe up her sleeve before holding out her wrists. "Now then… if you'll so kindly free me?"

Runoa reached out and touched one of the Prohibitors before closing her eyes and concentrating. For a moment, nothing happened… and the all four Prohibitors gave a great cracking noise and crumbled apart, clattering to the ground. "There you go…."

"Thank you." Willowe smiled and let out a soft gasp some of her power flooded back into her, her hair becoming shinier and her skin becoming fairer and paler while her eyes acquired a soft sparkle to them. "That is much better… you have no idea what it felt like to be so powerless with those Prohibitors on…"

The former Librarian made a non-committal noise. "Indeed… now then… I have acquired some assistance for your proposed takeover."

As if summoned by her words, the flock of pigeons on the ground suddenly took flight, cooing and calling as a man strode forwards in their wake. He was tall, with a square-jaw and dressed in a dark suit and tie. A pair of sunglasses was on his expressionless face. "Miss Foxblade…"

Willowe glanced at him skeptically. "And just who are you?"

"He is Agent Smith…" Runoa smirked softly. "He's something of a Stu from his home fandom…very nearly took it over, in fact. But he was defeated and supposedly destroyed… I managed to bring him back, though at greatly reduced power."

"Then what good will he be to me?" Willowe folded her arms across her ample chest. "The good number of strong Sues and Stus captured in the Library Basement will be more than enough to takeover the Library."

"Willowe, you will need his help." Runoa said sharply. "Especially if Adrian is present when you start your attack… there is much more defending the Library than just the Society's agents."

"Fine…" The Mary-Sue slid another glance at Agent Smith and then smiled brightly, cunningly. "It's time to go… are you sure you do not want to come, Runoa? This may be your last chance to get into the Library so you may finish your research on Immaculation."

"No." Runoa turned and started to walk away, cloak flapping behind her. "I have told you, Willowe, that I do not care for conquests or revenge… I will reclaim what is mine in due course…" Then she faded away, vanishing like a mist…

Agent Smith watched her go. "She hates you, doesn't she?"

Willowe only smirked. "She does…she hates all Mary-Sues, Gary-Stus, the Society, the Library… her hatred for everything is only outweighed by her hatred of herself…" She readjusted Excalibur and her smirk grew bigger. "Now… it's time to go… and take what is mine…"

She laughed and in a flare of white light, she and Agent Smith vanished…

TTTTTTTTTTTT

"It's not that I don't appreciate your work… it's just that I don't appreciate where you put it…"

"But you said I could paint any of the rooms I wanted so long as it had a large blank wall!"

"I know I said that, but I didn't think you'd take it literally…"

Emily Smith folded her arms across her chest and pouted up at Adrian. "But it's one of my best pieces! And I thought you'd like it…" She pouted more and her lower lip began to quiver.

The Librarian sighed and looked down at her. (She's giving me the puppy-dog eyes… I must resist… I must resist…) "Emily… I love it, really I do. But I would have really preferred it on canvas or something, so I could frame it and hang it or something. Not have it painted onto the wall of my office."

She pouted and her eyes got real big and sweet. "But I had this really cool idea and I wanted to try it out right away! You're a writer! You know you can't suppress the creative urges when they come!"

"Did you have get a creative urge that would give my girlfriend reason to kill me?" Adrian glanced over at the giant mural that took up one of his office walls and moaned softly. "I'm so dead…"

Done in a beautifully bright style of paint was a full-length mural of Tash, lying on a bed of what appeared to be clouds. She was smiling happily and was bright-eyed, little flames dancing around her form while a great pair of fiery wings stretched from her back and her staff was in her grasp.

She was also completely naked.

Luckily, her wings and the clouds were strategically positioned to cover everything necessary, but it was still very little coverage…

Adrian started it with a mixture of awe at Emily's talent, desire and appreciation for Tash's wonderful, sexy form and dread at what his other half would do to him when she found out. "Emily… why do you do this to me…?"

She looked at him, the complete picture of innocence. "What?"

"Nnnnnn..." Adrian found his anger and frustration at her slipping away at the sight the sweetness and puppy-dog eyes on her face. "Next time, Emily...will you at least please ask me if you going to paint in one of the rooms I use often?"

"Okay." The ten-year-old nodded her head and then blinked as blur of some sort hit Adrian in the head and floored the Librarian. "Ummmm..."

"What the-?" Adrian muttered to himself and tried to sit back, only to feel a weight on his back keeping him down... and it felt like someone was nibbling on his ears. "Chrys!"

"Nomnomonomnomnom..." Chrys giggled and continued to nibble on Adrian's kitty ears, her own ears flicking back and forth while Adrian just sighed deeply and propped his chin in his hand.

Emily stared at the sight, tilting her head as a question mark popped into existence above her. "Why is Chrys trying to eat your ears?"

Adrian pushed himself back to his feet and stood up, dislodging Chrys from his back. The hanyou let out a small noise of irritation and, despite the fact she was only a few inches shorter than Adrian, climbed him like a monkey and continued to nibble his ears. "She got into Tash's chocolate again..."

"So?" Emily, despite the oddness of the situation in front of her, also found it rather cute and endearing, as occasionally desu-sparkles would appear around Chrys. "British chocolate has more sugar than American, but it's not enough to cause anything like this."

"Not British chocolate, Tash's chocolate." Adrian corrected and squirmed a bit as Chrys shifted her weight to nibble his other ear. "When she's being devious, she likes to make me some and mix in a little catnip to uh... er..." The Librarian blushed red as he realized what he had about to say. "Well, she never gets any sleep when she makes me chocolate, let's put that way. Anyway, when Chrys eats it, she kinda goes a bit loopy..."

Then he blinked as he noticed that Emily had whipped out her sketchpad and was already hard at work. "Hey! Don't draw this!"

"But it's cute!" Emily's drawing hand was nearly a blur and then she grinned and flipped it around. "See?"

Adrian felt his eye twitch a bit. The picture showed his ears being nibbled on by a chibi-moe Chrys and there were several desu sparkles around them both as well. "I think I felt another piece of my dignity die..."

"Sorry, Adrian..." A slightly-out-of-breath Mizuho appeared the corner of a bookshelf. "She got into the chocolate and before I knew it, she gone after you..."

"It's fine, Mizuho." Adrian replied, reaching behind his head and plucking Chrys free, the hanyou whining a bit and grabbing desperately for his ears. "I just wish Tash would label her chocolate ..."

"At least this wasn't as bad as last time..." Mizuho said, grabbing Chrys around the arm. "That was a bit of a mess.

Emily looked back forth between the two. "Why? What happened last time?"

"Chrys surprised Adrian as he getting out of the shower...he was clothed, but still..." The sprite tightened her grip, as Chrys was starting to eye Adrian's tail intently. A devilish smirk appeared on Mizuho's face. "You look pretty damn hot shirtless, Librarian.."

Adrian blushed while Emily giggled at him. "What is it with women and teasing me? Honestly..."

Then his ears, as well as Chrys' pricked straight up.

In the next second, Adrian had taken two swift steps forward, Hoshikuzu appearing in his grasp even as he slammed it onto the floor, a wave of violet of light racing around the floor just in time to intercept the blast of silvery light that blew through his door like it was paper.

As the two attacks pushed against one another before dispersing away, Adrian positioned himself so that he was between the doorway and other three Agents in the room. "Silver..."

An arrogant chuckle sounded as the Soul Reaper Stu stepped through the ruined doorway, his robes a bright white and his sword's blade gleaming glowing with light. "Hello, Librarian. I'm here to kill you. I hope I'm not interrupting."

The kitty-eared man narrowed his eyes slightly. "If you're free, I guess that means Willowe has made her move..."

"So what?" Silver flicked a bit of hair behind his ear. "You should be worried more about me, for how can you hope to defeat a perfect being like myself?" He smiled and a tooth glinted with light.

Adrian squinted a bit in the light, swearing that Silver's skin was sparkling. "You sparkle more than a Twilight vampire..." Then he blinked as he felt something blur past him, ruffling his coat. "What...?"

Silver blinked as he felt a shadow fall over him and lifted his head, jaw dropping. "Holy *$#%!"

"NO! NO EVIL DESU!" Chrys slammed into the Stu and floored him, Silver flailing around as she attacked him. "RAWR!"

TTTTTTTTTTTT

"Okay… now concentrate again… don't try to force it… just let it happen…"

Valerie nodded at Tash's words and took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Alright…" The bracer attached her right arm began to glow blue softly and then twin beams of blue light shot up and down, forming into a large energy bow in her grasp. Reaching up her left hand, she grabbed the bow's 'string' and pulled it back slowly, a large arrow the same color as the bow forming there. She took another breath and let it out, aiming her weapon down the range… and let fly.

The arrow shot down the range towards the target… but at the last second, it suddenly flew to the side, missing completely and striking the floor as it releasing a small spark of power and left a tiny scorch-mark.

"Nuts…" Valerie sighed and then yelped as the bow suddenly flared briefly, doubling in size before vanishing completely with a 'zzzz-shiwsh!' sound. "Damn it!"

Tash smiled ruefully and shook her head. "You're concentrating too hard, Val… you can't make the bow and arrow happen… you have to let it happen."

Val nodded and glanced down at the bracer on her arm. "I'm trying… but it's difficult… the bow either gets too much power or too little… maybe I'm not opening my shields enough."

"That's not it…" Tash said as she walked over to her friend. "Adrian said that it didn't matter how much your shield are open. What matters is how firm your resolve is… That's how the Seiryu works."

The Seiryu was designed for empathetic people, to help give them an edge in fighting. Because empaths routinely avoid conflict so as not to overwhelm their spirits with the strong emotions battle produces, they make weak fighters. Empaths posses a stronger spiritual pressure than most individuals and this is what makes them sensitive to the feelings of those around them and as such, they develop 'shields' to keep most of outside forces at bay. With the Seiryu, it wasn't necessary. Normally just a bracer, to an empathetic individual, it was a weapon of great power. Because the bow requires a flow of spiritual energy to work, the empathetic user was forced to devote most of their energies to making it work, thus enabling them to fight and avoid being overwhelmed by the pain and fury of the combatants.

In short, the Seiryu kept the empathy busy enough that they did not have time to be overwhelmed by battle's emotions. At least, that how it was supposed to work…

Valerie glanced down the range, where a few dozen scorch-marks all over the floor and the wall, but not the target gave testament to her struggle to master her weapon. "I think I'm going to need more practice…"

Tash nodded agreement and then glanced over towards a second target, which was now nothing more than a smoking ruin. "Adrian made it look so easy…"

When demonstrating the weapon, Adrian had channeled his power into the bracer and it instantly formed into a metallic longbow of white and violet and quickly volleyed off several shots of violet energy arrows, all of them thin and sleek and all had exploded with great force on impact with the target. However, when he was done, his fingers were bleeding a bit and he explained (as Tash scolded him for hurting himself and wiped his hand clean) that though he could use the bow, he lacked the open empathy that prevented his own energies from backlashing on him.

So Tash and Val had spent the last two hours trying to get the weapon to work for her, but their success had been minimal.

Val winced and flexed her fingers a Seiryu for so long was making her hands hurt. "I'm starting to get blisters... since Seiryu is pure energy, I'm surprised that it just doesn't burn my fingertips off."

Tash nodded. "I was worried about the same when Adrian taught me Jurai-Ken. I kept thinking I was going to light my clothes or my hair on fire, but it never happened. He said it was something it being our own natural energies and so they wouldn't hurt us..." She grinned a little as she remembered how her training had gone. "Of course, that didn't stop me from lighting other things on fire..."

Valerie chuckled. "I seem to remember treating him for burns on his tail a dozen times during the first week or so..."

The British girl's grin grew bigger. "He kept getting annoyed that I kept 'accidentally' burning his trenchcoat and clothes off...not my fault he looks so hot with his shirt off..."

Val just shook her head, smiling. "Do you ever not think about him bedding you, Tash?"

Tash gave her a look of mock-indignation. "I'll have you know that I do not always think about him bedding me..." She dropped the look and giggled. "I think about him taking me everywhere else, too!"

Both Tash's giggles and Val's sighing and smiling were both interrupted as a golden blast of light burst through the floor nearby, both women leaping back as bits of debris rained down where they had been. "What the hell!"

There was a heavy crash and a figure landed at their feet, rolling to halt and moaning, their body covered in cuts and bruises and they spat out a globule of blood as they managed to sit upright and lurch to their feet. "Kyle?"

"Hehehehehe..." A deep chuckle filled the air as a golden-glowing form rose slowly through the hole, his spiky golden hair sticking up and to the back. Muscle atop muscle bulged as Harold flexed and cracked his knuckles. "So... who wants to die first?"

TTTTTTTTTTTT

"Drake…"

"Yeah, Tyler?"

"How you doing?"

"Considering my position, pretty well…" Drake was currently eagle-spread against the wall upside down, a hail of arrows and knives having pinned him to the stone wall by his clothing. "What about you?"

Tyler, for his part was dangling from the ceiling, a lasso having snared his wrists together and hauled him high. "Okay… though my wrists are starting to hurt some…"

They both glanced down below, where several packages of Oreos and chocolate lay scattered on the floor and Drake commented. "You know…we should have known it was a trap when he left it out in the open like that…."

"Yeah…"

"Oh my god!" A high laugh echoed down the hallway and both of them glanced to see the blonde-haired form of Chi skipping towards them. "You guys are really idiots if you actually fell for that kind of trap!" She snickered and laughed and clapped her hands. "Of course, it makes destroying you both so much easier for me!"

"What the hell!" Drake managed to free himself as Tyler did the same and both Agents readied themselves for battle, Drake tapping his wrist controller and his arm activating around him while Tyler whipped out his Ping-Pong paddle as it morphed into it's staff form. "How did you get out of your cell!"

"Oh, just a secret!" Chi giggled and stalked towards him. "But you're going to die, so I won't tell you…" Then she paused as she heard a 'CLICK!' noise from underneath and glanced down. "Oh… no…."

A trapdoor dropped open beneath her feet and she fell, screaming into the darkness below. "Noooooo!"

Both Agents blinked. "Well, that was... anticlimactic..."

Tyler paused. "Wait... you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"It sounded like a 'sproing!' sound... like a giant spring launching something..."

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Chi screamed she rocketed up off the trapdoor and smashed into the ceiling...then started fall back the way she came. "Daaaammmmmmmiiiiit!"

Drake and Tyler watched, their heads going up and down like bobble-heads as Chi kept bouncing off the spring, up through the trapdoor, into the ceiling and back down...only to hit the giant spring...

TTTTTTTTTTTT

Aster blinked slowly as a shadow fell over the manga she was reading, blocking out her light and preventing her from seeing the page. "Eh...?"

She lifted her head to see a man dressed in a suit-and-tie, wearing dark sunglasses standing over her. "You're blocking my light..."

Agent Smith smiled darkly. "I'm sorry. But don't worry, it won't matter much in a moment." Then his hand came up and he knifed it straight towards Aster's chest. "Just relax…"

Then the man felt his arm stop instantly and glanced down to Aster's hand clamped around his wrist like a vice. "Wha...?"

"You blocked my light..." Aster summoned her moon-staff and her eyes narrowed in irritation. "Now I'm never going to know how Gai-Rei ends!" She cracked Smith across the head with her staff and with a twirl of the weapon, followed it up with a powerful gust of wind magic that blew him across the hall and through the wall... and the next wall and the next wall...

The fae sighed. "If he's here, then Adrian-kun was right..." Shifting forms, she beat her wings and took off, casting a forlorn glance at the massive pile of manga on her bed before darting down the hallway. "Now I need to go find him..."

TTTTTTTTTTTT

Michael sighed and buried his nose in the Lovecraft book he had, desperately wishing for a way out of the room he was in.

(I could always teleport you out...) The Darkness offered from inside his head. (I don't like being here much more than you do…)

(Thanks, but no thanks... do you realize what they'd do to us if we disappeared?) Michael replied. (And I don't think you'd like Claire getting at you with those pinecones again…)

The Darkness made what sounded like a soft whimper. (I didn't even know you could do that with pinecones...)

Across the boy and his parasite, Claire and Miriku were seated on a couch and digging through the piles of dozens of wedding magazines, occasionally pulling one out and flipping through it and animatedly chatting about the upcoming wedding and the dresses and everything.

Michael was there solely to go 'Uh-huh.', "Whatever you want, love. I'm happy if you're happy." and 'Yes, dear. That would look good on you.' whenever he was asked a question. And so far, neither his fiancé or little sister had noticed that he had occasionally mixed up his answers.

"So, Michael, what do you think?" Claire held up a magazine and pointed to a picture of a flower arrangement. "Should we stick with this color set up or switch to white and purple?"

Michael flipped another page in his book and continued reading.

"Michael!" Claire got to her feet and loomed over her other half. "This is our wedding we are planning! Only the most important day of our lives and how can you-"

As Claire ranted at him, Michael casually lifted his head and said the two words that he had developed in response to when she was like this. "Claire Wasson."

Instantly, the British girl stopped ranting, got a dreamy look in her eyes and rocked back and forth on her heels, sighing happily.

Miriku poked her brother with a rolled-up magazine. "That's not playing fair, Aniki."

Michael grinned at her. "All's fair in love and war."

"Quite right." A laser blast came out of nowhere and seared off the top of the magazine Miriku was holding. "Including an ambush."

As more laser blasts zinged their way towards the trio, Michael leapt forwards and tackled Claire, two Darkness tentacles lanced out, one yanking Miriku down while the other flipped the couch over, making it an impromptu barrier.

Mytheus Primal stomped out from behind a bookshelf, laser rifles in each hand. "That's not going to hold for long..." Then he opened fire and the hail of laser blasts began to eat away at the couch, making the trio's shield smaller and smaller...

TTTTTTTTTTTT

Marcus ducked a knife swing and then skidded back to avoid a foot in his gut. "How did you get in here!"

The False Tash grinned and walked her knife along her fingers. "I walked!" Then she cackled insanely and charged again, the Society Agent catching her arms and they grappled, the knife flashing dangerously close to Marcus' neck.

TTTTTTTTTTTT

Cristoph and Doug coughed and waved the smoke from the explosion away even as they grabbed their weapons, Dough pulling out a pistol and the ninja flipping his sais into his hand.

"Hi, boys." Mary-Ann Twilight grinned cheerily at them as she stepped through the rubble that had been a wall only a few moments before. " Can I join in on the training? I know I don't fight well..." She hefted up a rocket launcher larger than she was onto her shoulder and took aim. "But I make up for it with a really, really big gun!"

TTTTTTTTTTTT

Aimee, Ossa, Jess and Jamie all sat in Hati's office, sitting in a neat row in front of the Society Leader's desk.
Hati assumed a serious mien. "As your leader, I would like to bring to your attention a very serious situation."

All four of them nodded as one.

"It is something that we must remedy at all costs, as it concerns the welfare and comfort of the Society's Agents and as we all know, a stressed and irritated Agent is an Agent that will fail with missions and generally be crabby and bitchy."

All four of them nodded again.

Hati slammed her fist on her desktop in frustration. "We need to persuade Phoenixia to sell the tapes of Adrian and Tash doing each other to us! They're the hottest things around and after seeing that brief clip she let us watch that night, they are most definitely worth getting our hands on! Any questions?"

Jamie raised his hand.

"Yes?"

"Why am I here? I didn't even see the first clip and to be honest, it doesn't really interest me at all."

Ossa shushed him. "You're one third of the Ossa Power Trio and this is the only way you'll get a cameo in the movie." Nobody paid any attention to the rumbling of the Fourth Wall.

Aimee blinked. "I thought we were Ossa-tachi..."

Jess frowned. "No, I thought you guys were Team Ossa or something like that..."

Ossa sighed. "I'm Ossa, I write the stories and I say we are Ossa Power Trio. And because I can beat you all six ways from Sunday, do you really want to argue with me?"

Then the door to Hati's office exploded inwards and threw all four of them forwards as a second concussive wave of energy hit the room and blew the desk and flooring apart.

Harriet moaned and stirred, brushing off debris and dust that had been the door to her office and her desk as she stood up weakly, coughing sharply. "What…"

"Hey, Mummy…" Willowe strode through the door, Excalibur still glowing from the power she had unleashed. "I'm home…" She raised the blade and smiled evilly. "Want to see how happy I am to see you?"